Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Elizabeth Nkukuu, VP Funding and Investments @ SME Founders Association
How could you describe your career path in few words?
I have been lucky to have great mentors and bosses throughout my Career. My investment career was driven by my first boss who introduced me to the world of investments through their pension scheme. It has been a lot of being prepared by ensuring that you have the right professional papers and the right experience. One of the things that I always ask myself is always is if I have the right credentials to be in the room and if not it becomes a clear wake up call that I have to do the invest time and money to acquire that which am missing. One thing I have noted along the way is that in all the you do be ready to approach every new opportunity as a starting point to learning. Get the right people around ie people who believe in your ability and challenge you so that you get the best out of yourself. Many at times being personable plays a key role in your career success but more and more I have learnt that people will some people will like you some will not but that is beyond your control. Control what you can make the best of every opportunity and the rest shall fall into place.
What was your most challenging experience and it has changed your mindset?
When you come from backgrounds where really there is no one to chat the path for you or someone to point you out to the right directions, you have two options to stay and look at fact that you are underprivileged or you get a way to make things better for yourself. When I was choosing the undergraduate degree to do I was not sure what course to take and had never heard of Actuarial degree but a friend of mine had been advised to select it and at the point I told myself that that is exactly what I would pursue. When I went o the job place I noted that the accountancy papers I had done were not going to make me the investment professional I wanted to become. When I noted there was more to learn about finance and investments as I deliver value other than the traditional asset classes I was used to, I decided to join a team that was largely focused on structured products. Now I think there is more to learn and offer on the side of running businesses and so my new focus is to help myself and other business put in place the right structures to run their businesses. All in my learning is that remain pragmatic make the right decision at every juncture and make the best of it.
What’s the most important key success factor for you based on your experience?
The only that sets successful people and the rest is how hard they are willing to work. Success call for a lot of sacrifice and my guiding principle is that people can be more talented than me but I know I should outwork them if I want to achieve great results. Everybody wants to be famous, but nobody wants to do the work. I live by that. You grind hard so you can play hard. At the end of the day, you put all the work in, and eventually it'll pay off. It could be in a year, it could be in 30 years. Eventually, your hard work will pay off.- Kevin Hart.
As one is working towards a goal it is also important that one has a clear view of where they are going so that we do not aim at nothing. Always stopping for take stock and for different perspectives helps to get all things moving in the right direction.
